1000 Manat 16 Years of Independence

Turkmenistan marked its sixteenth independence anniversary — commemorating the 1991 dissolution of the Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic — under the rule of Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow, who had assumed the presidency just months earlier following the death of Saparmurat Niyazov in December 2006. Niyazov, who styled himself Türkmenbaşy ("Leader of all Turkmen"), had ruled with near-total personal control for fifteen years, renaming months after himself and his mother. This coin was among the first commemoratives issued under the new administration.